Sometimes, some movies are so dense, so steeped in heady, easily-overlooked details that they leave viewers walking out of the theater (or sitting in a stupor of confusion on their couch) scratching their heads. Or, in other cases, the moment of understanding comes at the dénouement, the climax; in those such cases, viewers will be totally lost until the very end.
Whatever the case may be, some films are meant to be watched more than once. And, as a result of that second (or third…or thirteenth, in some cases) viewing, the audience begins to understand specific nuances of the plot, or the meaning of that strange, yet seemingly significant, thing one character says to the other, or the director’s overall vision for the film. But some films require multiple viewings more than others; check out a handful below in which once is just not enough.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
10 Fight Club
20th Century Studios
The final act of Fight Club involves a twist that takes everything viewers thought they knew, and completely flips it on its head. The same goes for the main character, who, up until those final moments, is just as clueless as the audience (at least, those first-time viewers). When it’s watched for a second time, however, a lot of quirky plot points make a lot more sense – especially because one of the main characters was just a figment of the imagination the entire time.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 Memento
Summit Entertainment
Unreliable narrators can make for a confusing film. If they don’t know what’s going on, neither does the audience. Case in point: Memento, in which the main character suffers from an obstructive memory disorder, as he attempts to solve a murder. Not to mention, a portion of the film is portrayed in reverse order, making it easy to get lost when watched for the first time.
8 The Sixth Sense
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
M. Night Shyamalan is the king of twist endings, and The Sixth Sense is one of his best. In fact, although his more recent films haven’t been held in such high regard, The Sixth Sense is often revered as having one of the best twist endings in modern cinema. It’s so dramatic that, when watching the film for a second time, equipped with the knowledge of the ending, it’s like watching an entirely different film.
7 Vertigo
Paramount Pictures
Released in 1958, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is considered one of the best films ever made in the psychological thriller genre. It follows a retired detective, who gives up his life of solving mysteries after a harrowing incident involving heights. (Hence, the movie’s title.) But he’s pulled back into the business of solving mysteries; although this time, it’s his own. And so, the audience only knows as much as the narrator, the detective. Upon a second viewing, however, the twisting plot filled with deception and things that don’t make much sense, becomes much more coherent.
6 Shutter Island
Paramount Pictures
In the same vein as Fight Club and The Sixth Sense, Shutter Island leads viewers to believe that they’ve got a solid grasp of what’s going on throughout the majority of the film…until the final act. And then, with that final revelation, everything the audience thought they knew was just a farce all along. But by watching it again, viewers can pick up on the cues hinting at the truth, that they probably wouldn’t have noticed on the first time around.
5 The Prestige
The whole purpose of magic is to confuse the audience. So, a movie that revolves around two feuding magicians – in addition to disguises, a plot spanning across a handful of years, and truly mind-bending magic tricks – The Prestige is predicated upon deception. There’s deception between the two feuding magicians, and deception of the audience, too. Not to mention, one of the magicians has a secret twin brother, as unveiled in the third act, which makes viewers question everything they saw before the big reveal.
4 Pulp Fiction
Miramax Films
Pulp Fiction may seem like a fun, classically Quentin Tarantino flick with a cocktail of carnage, drugs, sex, and comedy – but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. With multiple storylines, a long list of characters, and all of it connecting in one way or another, the film can get a little complicated for first-time viewers. But like a lot of Tarantino’s films, going back and truly understanding how the various plots tie together, is all part of the fun.
3 The Machinist
Paramount VantagePalisades TartanFilmaxVapet ProductionsCTV International
Up until about three quarters through the film, The Machinist seems fairly straightforward. It’s disturbing, sure, yet it’s direct. But then comes the big reveal, and with it, the reasons for why the main character is in the undesirable position he’s in become much more apparent. Again, this one deals with an unreliable narrator, too, so that only adds to the confusion and the need to rewatch it again to get a better understanding of the film as a whole.
2 Interstellar
On the surface, Christopher Nolan’s 2014 sci-fi epic, Interstellar, is a thrilling space adventure in which the good guys venture out into the unknown, achieve what they set out to do (with a handful of hiccups along the way, of course), and ultimately make it back home safely. Simple enough. But, on a deeper level, the film deals with such high-level concepts – black holes, time distortion, the theory of relativity, etc. – that to truly grasp what’s going on, multiple viewings are required. That, and maybe a physics textbook, too.
1 Donnie Darko
Pandora Cinema & Newmarket Films
Whenever there’s a time-traveling man with one eye in a bunny costume, things are going to get confusing. Donnie Darko is a tough one to follow, even after more than just two viewings. Some people have seen this movie many, many times and still get puzzled by it. The complex narrative involving an impending apocalypse, nonlinear time, and eerie orbs leading people down certain paths, all make for a serious headache upon first viewing. This one demands multiple viewings – along with, perhaps, a thesis-level breakdown of the plot – to fully understand.
